Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-24
THE BANK OF FRANCE.
It's Extraordinary Precaution TO Guard
Against Counterfeit Coin.


The cashier of Paris newspaper found
the other day counterfeit five-franc piece
in bag of coins which he had lust re-
ceived from the Bank of France The an
nouucement of this fact in the next morn
ing's issue of the Journal was soon followed
by the appearance of the head cashier of
the bank, who, after redeeming the coin,
cut it in two and apologized for the occur
renee. Such thing as a counterfeit piece
Of money being received by the Bank of
France is extremely rare, and it is still
more extraordinary that one should have
been paid out. Before deposit in silver
| is accepted each coin is examined sepa-
rately, and afterward they undergo sec
| ond inspection before being placed in the
| bags in which they are stored away in the
, vaults. From forty to fifty men are in
trusted with this work. They begin by
| placing twenty pieces in one scale of a pair
of balances, then they place an equal num-
Der in the other scale, and if the two ex-
actly balance each other they repeat the
operation until there are 80 francs in
each scale When 1000 francs have been
weighed in this way they are put in can
vas bag which is carefully weighed and its
weight registered on n tag, which is fast
ened to the bag after it is tied and sealed.
| The name of the employee who has done
the weighing is also noted on the tag 4
bag of 1000 francs in five-franc silver
pieces ought to weigh a trife over II 7-100
pounds, and if it weighs less than that
amount il is conclusive proof that one or
more of the coins in it are either light or
counterfeit. In that case the coins are re-
examined, and the false or defective one is
Immediately cut in two.
1t is very rare that a false coin finds its
way back into circulation through the
Bank of France, and whenever such case
occurs-ehat of the newspaper already re-
ferred to was the third case in the last
Eeighteen months-thc bank at once re-
deems the coin, and the weigher, whose
name is on the tag Of the bag from which
it came, is either discharged or transferred
to some other department The bulk OF
silver in the possession of the bank comes
to it from the railway companies, who de-
post large sums, varying daily from $4,000
to 100000 francs in five-franc pieces
When the deposit is less than $4,000 francs
the coins are examined ut once and the
bad ones rejected but when it is over that
amount it is kept separate and examined
later on, but always within four days
when counterfeit coins are sent back to the
company.
The bank claims that the honesty of its
employees is above suspicion, but only the
other day one of them was detected slip
ping counterfeit coin into rouleau Of
gold. The bank employs 600 runners, and
no one is appointed to that position who
does not possess private means outside Of
his salary. 1t sometimes happens that
when garcon de recette gets back to the
bank he finds a thousand or hundred
franc note more in his pocket-book thar
his days collection call for. He is re
quired to turn this into the bank, but after
a certain time, if no claim is made for it, il
becomes his property. He is, of course
required to make good any deficit in hi;
days account, and | am told that the ex
cess and deficits in this department about
balance each other at the end of the year
Paris Letter.